2007 Report

Damn you, global warming!

The annual Redeye 50km saw wet, relatively warm weather for the new year. No snow. No ice. No cold. This is just not right. That is three years in a row with non-Redeye weather.

The morning rain held down the participants, but we had only four fewer finishers this year than last. It didn’t rain that much. But the streams were raging and the course was pretty wet.

Gary Knipling and Bob Phillips marked the course, put out aid, smoozed the Park Service, etc. The participants brought the food. As usual, it was a greasy fest. Also, Quatro deserves much thanks for making a pizza run.

Unfortunately, the pre-run briefing omitted the fact that the course markings would be gone for the third loop. The result was that Jeff Holdaway got some bonus miles and likely lost the victory, and the substantial prize money, to Mark Crisman. The leading woman was Michele Harmon who appears to be in training for her comeback.

The back of the pack had the usual stiff competition for good excuses to drop out. This reporter would have done a third loop but he didn’t want to make people wait for him. What a guy!

The prize for longest drive on least sleep to get to the start went to Quatro. He had been at “the cabin” the night before celebrating with every “in” bachelor and bachelorette in Washington. After about an hour of sleep, for a reason that escaped us all, he left that warm place to come to the Redeye. He did one loop — even slower than this reporter. Way to play hurt.

Gary got runner up in the longest drive on least sleep. He had gone to a party that he described as “wild” in the Shenandoah Valley. (There’s an oxymoron.) He got home at 2 am, however, so he is second to Q.

In reaction to harassment from the official scorer to “write legibly,” the participants had excellent penmanship on the results. Unfortunately, that penmanship got rained on. So, for a change, only a very few of the mistakes in the results are the result of crappy handwriting.

Remember, the Redeye is a cold, crappy run. You don’t want to do this run next year. Stay home and watch football.

Happy New Year!

Photos

Photos on Flickr

Results

You get what you write down!